Supernatural Retired
by flutterbye1888
Summary: ((Complete)) Cassie is Sam's five year old daughter. Her parents trained her the best they could, and tried to keep her safe, but a hunter can never retire. Now, a demon attacks their home, and Cassie needs protection. (AU, Sam paired with an OC)
1. Cassie and Ada

**Hello, Everyone! I'm still currently writing this one, but I hope to keep up with it. Please leave a review, and follow to hear when I've got new chapters up.**

Three farmers stand by one's truck in the fall breeze. Another farmer drives a tractor, collecting sorghum from his fields. The three watch, ready to help in any way. Harvest is the farmers' equivalent of a party. They pass beers around and talk loudly.

There's a house across the field, neatly nestled in woods. The yard extends into the sun of the grassy part of the field. The farmers look at the house and discuss the inhabitants. None of them really know much about their newest neighbors, despite their living there for two and a half years. In this sort of country where everyone knows everyone all their life, it's bizarre to have someone that new around.

The back door of the little warm cabin creaks open and a woman and a little girl step out. The woman carries a plastic basket of laundry. The little girl carries a wooden sword. As her mother hangs the clothing on the line to dry, the child swings the toy, slashing at imaginary enemies.

The farmers don't know enough on the subject to tell, but the girl is using professional moves. Her swings are calculated and powerful. The farmers all watch the pair. The woman says something. The child laughs. The sound echoes over the field, even over the noise of the tractor nearby.

"That woman," says one of the farmers, opening his third beer, "I'd take her home if I didn't have Alice."

Another farmer whistles. The angle the woman gives them now as she bends for her laundry makes two of the men stare and laugh. The other shakes his head, knowing what their thoughts must be.

"I wouldn't talk about Ada like that if I were you," he says, "That family is... Well, I wouldn't say bad news..."

"What are you talking about, Bill?" One asks, a joking tone in his voice, "I'm sure they're perfectly fine. We just don't know them. And I would sure like to." He elbows Bill.

"Stop it, Walter," he says back, "And I can see you laughing Jim. I swear that woman and her husband both come into the gun shop at least once a week and buy guns and bullets. There's something not right about that, you must admit."

"Well," says Jim, "They own a hundred and fifty acres. You expect them not to go hunting?"

"Maybe so, but I don't like it is all," says Bill, "I'll just leave them alone and they'll leave me alone. Except to buy my guns."

The woman picks up her empty basket and takes the little girl by the hand. They enter the house again.

The conversation of the farmers moves on to another topic.

Inside the cabin, the little girl puts her sword away. She stores it under her bed, and she keeps her Nerf guns in her closet. She tried to make drawers like the ones her parents have, but it's mostly cardboard and zip ties that her toys fit into. While her mother cooks something in the kitchen, she sneaks into her parent's bedroom and tries on her daddy's clothes.

She doesn't notice that the kitchen has grown quiet. Her mother, on the other hand, had noticed that she had.

"Cassie? What are you doing?" she says at the doorway. The little girl jumps.

"I was playing dress-up."

Cassie has a large plaid shirt practically wound around her. The sleeves pool on the floor. Her father's shoes are boats that her feet could sail away in, along with a crew of other similar-sized feet. In one hand, she holds her only real weapon, a small iron knife. In her other she holds a wooden pistol with her name carved in it.

"Momma," she says, her green eyes looking up sadly, "When will daddy be back?"

He mother smiles. "It shouldn't be long, sweetheart. He's only been gone a couple of days."

"But it's been very long days," she whines, stepping out of the shoes and dropping the shirt off her arms.

"I know, love. Come for supper, alright? I'll tell you a story."

The girl's eyes widen and she tucks the knife into it's sheath and runs to put her toys away. When her mother turns from the stove with their plates, the girl sits, ready, at the table.

Her mother raises her eyebrows. "Did you wash up?"

"Yes, momma, before dress-up. Because I could smell you cooking."

Ada laughs and shakes her head. "Now you have to do it again, silly. Shoo!"

The girl giggles and runs from the room.

It's been a while since Ada's heard her daughter laugh. Since her fifth birthday, the girl had been quiet. Maybe it was just her personality growing in, but Ada thought it might be because Sam had been away so often.

Not so much as he could be, but he still was approaching a day away for every one at home.

"It's only until this is over," he promised, "Dean needs me. And Cassie needs you."

Ada even proposed taking Cassie with them and hitting the road again, but she knew it was an incredibly selfish and impossible proposal. Their daughter needed to be safe. And sometimes that meant that Sam would go out for days at a time.

She knew, too, that eventually, in maybe a month or so, this would pass. Dean would go home, Sam would come home, and it would be quiet for a time.

Is it awful that those aren't the times she longs for most?

Cassie's sock feet pad back and the two sit to eat.

"Did you put mayonnaise on this?" she asks, lifting the bread to look into her sandwich.

"No," she says, "Only on mine."

"Oh good."

The girls stares, eager, at her mother.

Ada smiles. "Were you waiting for something?"

The girl looks offended. "My _story_?"

Ada feigns remembrance. "Oh! Of course! Your story!" She puts down her sandwich. "Have I ever told you about the day Sam and I met?"

"Sam, meaning my _daddy_?"

"Yes, your daddy."

"No, never ever."

"Well." Ada looks left and right. "It's kind of a scary story. And it's a big secret. Can you keep our secret?"

"Momma, of course. I already keep lotsa secrets."

"Of course you do. All right. When I was younger, I was haunted by a ghost."

"Really, Momma? Why didn't you run away?"

"No more interrupting sweetheart. I did try to run away. I ran away from my home and my parents. I was twenty two, so the police didn't look for me. My parents didn't either. I ran and I ran. I drove halfway across the country before I realized the ghost was with me the whole time."

The little girl has breadcrumbs on her chin. She stares at her mother, silent.

"You see," Ada says, "When I was a baby, my grandmother gave me a necklace with her own hair inside. When she died is when the ghost showed up for the first time."

"I bet the ghost _was_ your Grammy, momma."

"I think so too. She was just a little girl, though, so I didn't know who she was for a while. I also didn't know that she was protecting me. It's not safe for a twenty two year old in a big city like Washington D.C., especially not in the kinds of places I would stay. My grandmother would kill people who she thought might hurt me, even if they wouldn't. She killed my boyfriend because we had a fight."

Ada looks at her daughter. "You know daddy hunts monsters, yeah?" The little girl nods.

"Well, when my Grammy started killing people, daddy and uncle Dean heard about it. She was killing so many people, they heard about it even though it was a big city. You see, my grandmother had a stroke, so that's what she was doing to people. I begged my Grammy to stop, but she didn't."

"Momma, may I intrupt now?"

"What is it, Cassie?"

"Whatsa sroke?"

"A _Stroke_. It's when someone's blood doesn't get into their brain just right. There's a little block in it."

Cassie nods like she understands. "Keep going."

"Well, first they thought I was doing it, through black magic or something. So they figured out who I was and they found me asleep in my car."

Ada smiles.

"I freaked out. But they told me everything eventually. And it actually calmed me down. An explanation for what I'd been going through. Well, your daddy and I, we liked each other."

Cassie grins. "Did you kiss?"

Ada laughs. "Oh, yes. We definitely kissed. Then, when they said they had to go, I told them to take me with them. They didn't of course. It was to keep me safe. But I knew about ghosts and monsters, so I figured out how to keep myself safe from them. How to keep others safe. And when you have the same job as someone, you meet them eventually.

"Three years later, I was twenty-five. I sought them out, found them." She smiles. "I gave them Hell for leaving me behind."

"How did you give them Hell, momma?"

"Don't say Hell, it's not a good word for little girls."

"But how?"

"I trapped them. Left them all the signs that it'd be a demon they were hunting. Then, I didn't let them see my face. When they had me in a demon trap and tried to exorcise me, I walked out of their circle and had a big reveal. Biggest rush I've ever had in my life."

Ada looks at the sunset out the window.

"It's getting dark. I should go close the chicken coop." Ada stands. So does Cassie.


	2. The Attack

**I couldn't wait any longer. I only have a handful of pages, but I couldn't leave you with only one chapter, even though I just posted it yesterday! Here you go... Please Review! The Traffic stats engine was offline until this morning, so I honestly have no idea how many people have read this so far.**

"You need to finish your sandwich, sweetie." She pats her daughter's wavy brown head.

Ada pulls on her husband's rubber boots and exits the back of the house. The tree cover makes the yard dark. Ada walks towards their small flock of birds. They cluck and coo as she latches their door shut.

"Goodnight, ladies," she says to them quietly. The rooster squawks in return. "And gentleman," she says with a smile, turning back towards the house. Something rustles the leaves of the underbrush nearby. Ada pauses for a second, staring. Cassie stands by the screen door, watching her mother in the yard.

"Momma!" she calls. The rustle Ada heard repeats itself. She starts to walk faster.

"Cassie, stay inside!" she shouts. The sound turns into footfalls. Ada runs. Cassie screams as a figure jumps out from behind a tree and seizes Ada. She's pulled from Cassie's sight behind the tree and screams once before being heard no more.

Cassie slams the door with all her five-year-old strength and locks it. She runs to the door facing the field and makes sure it's locked, and takes her pink painted stool to all the windows to make sure they're locked too.

That's when the banging starts. Cassie doesn't scream. She hurries to her parent's room and hides in their closet. Her parents told her that they put signs and marks on the door and in the walls there to keep her safe if anything happened.

She knows the combination to the weapons drawer. She's scared to open it because her daddy always said it was only for emergencies, but she knows this is an emergency and twists the lock left and right. It clicks open and she looks in awe at the knives and guns.

Inside the door is a note. Cassie was just learning how to read, so she struggles through the words.

"Cassie," she reads aloud, "p-hone in pocket of red co-at. Co-at. Coat. P-hone in pocket of red coat. Call un-cl-ee De-an. Dean. Call uncle Dean." Then there's a number. Cassie stands in the dim closet and reaches for the red coat. She can't get it down, the hanger's too high. She tries to throw it to get it unhooked, then she sees that it's one of the plastic ones. Those ones break easy. She hangs on the coat and the hanger gives way. In the front left pocket is a small silver flip phone.

Cassie's tiny fingers carefully press the buttons and she puts the phone to her ear.

"Hello? Ada?"

"Uncle Dean!"

"Cassie, what's wrong?"

Cassie hears clicks and scrapes, then her daddy's voice. "Cassie! Where are you? Where's momma?"

"Somebody got her!" Cassie finally starts to cry. "She was closing the chicken's coop and somebody came outta the wo-ods." She sobs. She hears shouting on the other end of the phone.

"We're coming, baby. You're in the lockbox?"

"I'm in the closet."

"Ok, don't open the door for anyone, not even me. I'll be able to open it when I get there."

"Daddy."

The phone cuts off.

Cassie puts it on the shelf and pulls off a pistol. It's not so different from a Nerf gun, she thinks. Her daddy and momma always played Nerf with her. They were really good. She was getting better. Her momma said she was better with her swords. Higher on the shelf was a gleaming machete. Cassie wipes her tears away. She put the gun on the carpeted floor and climbs the shelf to reach the knife. Carefully, she moves it down one shelf at a time until she can safely reach it from the ground.

She holds the heavy weapon tightly and backs herself against the far wall. The walk-in closet is spacious, and as Cassie looks around, she spots a light switch. If she stood on her tiptoes she might be able to reach it. The banging at the back door never stops as she approaches the switch and reaches for it.

The light switches on, and there is a clicking sound and the shoe shelf sinks into the wall. Out of the floor comes another shelf of items. These seem dangerous, more than the weapons did. Cassie doesn't want to touch them, but she goes to look.

The center of the shelf is about eye-height. There she saw a knife on a glass stand. Engravings line the blade. She puts down the machete and picks this up. On another shelf is a stack of books. Latin lines their spines. Not that Cassie can really tell the difference with her little reading experience.

She can't see what's at the top of the shelf, but the bottom holds a small locked box. She can tell by looking that she shouldn't touch it, but she has a knack for touching things she shouldn't.

She picks up the box. It's heavy, thick metal with geometric drawings on every side. Little marks cover the drawings. Cassie knows these are spells. Probably keeping people out. What's inside must be important. She puts the box in her pocket. Maybe it could help her if the man gets into the house.

The banging at the door stops with one final bang. Cassie holds her breath and listens. She hears footsteps on the creaky wooden floor. Terrified, she jumps up and makes sure the door is locked. Then she stands, knife in hand.

Banging starts on the closet door. Tears stream down Cassie's face. She backs against the far wall.

The banging suddenly stops.

"Cassie." The low voice drags out the syllables. "I know you're in there."

Cassie closes her eyes and tries to stay quiet.

"Your daddy won't get here in time. I suggest you open this door and get it over with."

Cassie, eyes screwed tight, shakes her head.

"Come on, now, Cassie. It's simple. You come out, and your daddy can have your mommy back. You want him to be happy, don't you?"

She doesn't know what to do. "What about me?" she squeaks.

"You're the one I need, sugar-puff. I can't leave you behind. But your mother, I can leave her safe here."

Cassie pushes back from the wall and approaches the door.

"You won't do anything to momma?" she says, "You'll leave momma alone?"

She's close enough to hear his breath against the door. "Of course," the man says, "I couldn't lie to you."

Cassie's scared, but she knows her daddy's a long way away. She grips the knife. Surely it would kill him. She unlocks the door and turns the handle. Even with the door open, the demon can't get inside. They've put salt in the floor. He has to convince her to come closer. She holds the knife by her side. He doesn't bother to look. He knows knives can't do anything to him.

"Come here, my dear."

Cassie looks at the man, feet planted. "Put my momma in her bed. Then I will."

The man's face twists. "You little bitch. Just a tricky as your filthy hunter parents!"

Then he calms himself. Cassie tries not to cry anymore. "Fine," he says. He leaves the room. She hears the screen door open and close. Then he comes back, Ada limp in his arms. He ties her to the bed, wrists and ankles to the four bedposts. As he ties her last ankle, Cassie sees the blood soaking her mother's shirt. Her fist tightens around the knife and she runs from the closet towards the demon. Her three-foot form pounces and she buries the knife hilt-deep in the center of his back.

The man's body convulses, throwing her to the ground. Her eyes widen as sparks and smoke shoot from the wound. The man falls, his eyes and mouth smoking as well.

Cassie holds her breath until it hurts, then she starts to scream. After a few minutes she tries to take a breath. She gasps and starts to cry, curling into a little ball on the ground, hands covered in demon's blood.


	3. Packing Up

**And again, I can't stay away from sharing. I'm going to regret this when I can't keep up... :P**

That's where Sam finds them three hours later. Ada's woken up. She's lost a lot of blood and is bleeding more from her ankle. She's been trying to wear away the rope with her free foot. She's so relieved to see Sam. She lets herself start to cry.

"I can't see Cassie," she sobs, "The closet's open, where's Cassie?"

Sam runs from the room, leaving Dean to free Ada. Sam's already searched the house and is looking outside before Dean unties Ada and they notice Cassie and the demon's body on the other side of the bed.

"Sammy!" Dean shouts, "We found her!"

Ada drops to her knees beside the sleeping ball. "Cassie." She pulls the five-year-old into her lap, "Sweetheart, wake up."

At first, the three think the blood on her hands is her own. Then they see the knife in the demon's back.

Sam gently touches Cassie's face. "Cassie?"

The girl wakes slowly. Shock will drain a person, and it was now far past the child's regular bed-time. She slowly opens her eyes and looks around.

"Daddy. Momma. I'm so glad you're OK."

Dean pulls the knife out of the man's back with a wet sound. "Did you do this, Ada?" he asks, wiping the knife clean on the dead man's shirt.

She glares at him. "Did it look like I was able to stab him? He tied me up when I was still unconscious, Dean."

He turns to Cassie. She doesn't want to meet his eyes. "Cassie," he says, "did you kill this man?"

Her face crumples and she starts to cry, nodding. Ada holds her daughter tight. "It's OK, baby. Lets get you cleaned up and in bed, OK?" Ada takes the child out of the room. The boys can hear the tap turn on and Cassie's quiet crying.

"Who was it?" Sam asks seriously. Dean looks down at the body and flips it over with his foot.

"No idea."

The next morning when Cassie wakes up, she smells bacon. She pulls on some socks and runs out into the dining room.  
"Daddy! Uncle Dean! I'm so glad you're here!" she shouts, jumping into her father's lap.

"We're glad we're here, too, kiddo," says Dean, mouth full of food. Cassie sees a stack of waffles and kisses Sam on the cheek. "Oh, thank you, daddy," she says. Her dad was always the one to make waffles.

She stacks up three and sits at the table. Everyone watches her eat.

"So, Cassie."

She looks up at uncle Dean.

"You remember what happened last night?"

She stops eating. Her forehead wrinkles.

"I don't want to think about it when I'm eating my favorite food, OK uncle Dean?"

Dean shrugs and smiles. "Of course not. I apologise."

The adults watch her until she's uncomfortable. She puts down her fork and turns to Dean.

"What do you wanna know?" she says.

"Start at the beginning."

And she does. She pauses when she gets to the part involving the light switch.

"But when I turned the light on, the shelves moved. An then I found the magic knife."

The adults look at her. "What makes you think it was a magic knife?"

"Well, the spells on it. And also, it made the man go on fire on the inside."

All three of their faces go dark. "Dammit," says Sam, "So it was a demon, then."

"Yeah," says Cassie, "Of course."

They look at her again.

"Why would you say that, Cassie?" Ada says, taking her baby girl's hand.

"I could see it," she says, "In his eyes. His eyes were black like the stories."

"All right," Sam says, standing, "Lets go."

Ada stands as well. "Go? We can't just leave!"

"Of course we can. You two can wait this out at the bunker while Dean and I hunt the bastards who planned this."

"Like Hell we are, Sam. If something's after our baby girl, we're hunting it together."

Cassie doesn't like the shouting. Also, she's not a baby girl.

"What do you expect me to do, Ada? We can't just leave Cassie alone!"

Dean stands. "Guys."

"No, Sam! We can't! But we can't run away. We can't hide."

Dean steps between them. "Guys!"

They look at him.

"I'll take care of Cassie. You obviously need some couple's vacation. I'll babysit."

They turn to each other. "Well..," they say in unison. It's obvious they don't really like the idea. Dean looks a bit offended.

"I'd love that!" Cassie shouts, "Where would we go, uncle Dean?"

"Somewhere safe for little girls."

Three hours and a little more arguing later, Ada and Sam are helping Cassie pack.

"I'll pack my favorite dress, and my shiny rubert red slippers-"

"Ruby," Sam corrects.

Cassie pulls her head out of the closet and looks at him. "Who?"

"They're called ruby red- Never mind. Let me help you. You need some regular outfits."

Ada comes from the bathroom with a toiletries bag with Cassie's hair brush, soaps, and little pink toothbrush inside.

"Dean says he has toothpaste at the bunker, and food. And she can sleep in your old bedroom. Did you leave blankets and stuff there? She'll still need her favorite pillow." Ada stresses with the quick packing.

"And I need my stuffed Cassiel!"

The parents smile.

"We've told you before, Cassie, there's a 'T' in there somewhere."

She giggles, throwing her pillows around looking for the toy.

"My stuffed Catsiel?"

"Now you're doing it on purpose, you little monkey." Sam playfully picks up the little girl and swings her to his shoulders. "I'm gonna tickle you until you get it right."

Cassie tenses up with contained giggles. "My stuffed... Cassitel!" she shouts. Sam takes her from his shoulders and gently tosses her on the bed, tickling her until she screams. "No, no, wait," she says, breathing heavily, "My stuffed... Catastiel!" He tickles her again, making Ada laugh with the contagion that is young joy. "Ok," she gasps, "Ok, fine. My stuffed... Catamaratasiel!"

Sam growls at her and tickles her all over until she rolls off the bed and into the pile of fallen pillows.

"I found him!"

From beside the bed she holds up a dark-haired plush angel. It wasn't really made to be Castiel, but with a sharpie pen used on the white wings and a teddy bear's tan trench coat and black tie, it was close enough.

She hugs the doll tightly before handing him to her mother to be packed up. She tosses her her favorite feather pillow, too.

"You want to help me pick your clothes, Catamatarassie?"

Cassie, laughing, goes to rifle through her drawers with her daddy.

Ada takes the doll to show Dean. "Have you seen Cassie's Castiel doll?" she asks him. He's just finished burying the body the demon was possessing.

"She has a Castiel doll?" he says, eyebrows raised. Ada smiles and holds it out to him. He wipes the dirt off his hands and takes it.

"Where'd you get this coat?" he asks.

"A teddy we found at the thrift store. It had the tie too. But we had to color the wings. Makes it really unique. She probably doesn't really remember him, but we had to do something. She's named after him, you know?"

Dean starts to reply, but doesn't.

"Of course you know. I'm sorry, that shouldn't have been a question. Are you ready to babysit?" she says.

He smiles. "You won't find this reassuring, but no, I'm not."

She laughs. "That's not reassuring, thanks. I know I'm a bit uptight, but she's our first and even if we were _normal_ parents you could expect us to be pretty strict."

Dean nods, thinking of the detailed schedule Ada worked up to make sure he remembered to feed her and do whatever else you do with a kid.

"You'll have fun," she tells him, "Cassie adores you."

At that moment Cassie stumbled down the hallway with her big, packed suitcase in tow. Sam followed her, grinning. She struggled, pulling it in such a way that the wheels weren't of any use, and gave the handle to Dean. Then, she ran back into her room.

"Just a few minutes," she said, "Don't leave me. I'm getting my Road Bag."

Cassie's Road Bag was essentially a bag of car-friendly toys. Coloring books and broken crayons, a deck of waterproof playing cards that Ada was teaching her how to play with, a small plastic man with one arm that could go on all kinds of adventures on the walls and seat, and a small sandscape toy. Ada frequently found herself asking to look at the sandscape. It was full of sparkles and bubbles, and when you flipped it, it started over. In the bag Cassie also put her little knife, the box her parents didn't know that she took from their closet (She was convinced, now, that it was good luck) and, from the kitchen, a few snacks.

"Ok, uncle Dean. Let's hit the road!" she says loudly, stomping in with her backpack nearly toppling her. Dean takes the backpack from her and lifts the suitcase. Cassie marches after him as he goes to load them into the Impala.

"Wait, wait, wait. Cassie, aren't you missing something?" Ada says.

She turns back, worried. "What's that, momma?"

Both parents hold their arms open.

"Whoa!" she shouts, running back to them, "I forgot you weren't coming! I love you, momma. I love you, daddy."

"We love you too, baby," says Ada. They both know that what they're about to go do is dangerous. Especially because Ada hadn't been hunting since Cassie was born, and Sam was also slightly out of practice. They were hunting down demons with their hands tied.

They went onto the porch to see Cassie off. Dean acted perturbed because of Cassie's booster seat in the front seat of the Impala, but Sam could tell he liked having her with him. Once they disappear down the driveway, Ada and Sam go back inside to research and plot.


	4. On the Road

Cassie is practically bouncing in her seat. She gets to sit in the _front_ seat and see everything!

Dean keeps looking over at her excited face and smiling.

"So, Cassie," he says, "it's getting close to lunch time, now, and we're not quite in your town yet. Do you have a favorite restaurant or something?"

"Soniiiiic!" she shouts, "Can we _please_ eat at Sonic?"

Dean grins. "Hey, burgers and fries, I'm not complaining." Cassie pointed the drive-through restaurant out as soon as they reach town.

"Welcome to Sonic, my name's Nina, may I take your order?"

Cassie doesn't even have to look at the menu to know what she wants.

"Yes, miss Nina!" Cassie says, leaning over Dean to shout directly into the microphone, "I want a Jr. Bacon burger without pickles or ketchup or mustard, and I want a little chili cheese fries and a cherry blast!"

"Cassie!" Nina says, "I didn't recognize you in that car. Who's this?"

"It's my uncle Dean!" She turns to him. "It's your turn uncle Dean."

"Uh," says Dean, "I'll have a Bacon Cheeseburger with everything, extra onions, a large onion rings, and a sweet tea."

"A sweet tea!" Cassie shouts, "That's boring, uncle Dean. Get a fancy drink. Sonic makes great fancy drinks."

"Ok, I take back what I said about the tea. I'll have a large root beer float with two spoons and two straws."

"Coming right up, dears. Pull ahead into a spot, so Ralph can bring it to you."

Dean pulls away from the window. Cassie leans in to him and whispers in his ear, "Ralph comes out on _roller-skates._ "

The Impala fits right in with the atmosphere of the Sonic. Dean finds himself enjoying the looks they're getting. Then, Ralph comes out with their food, greeting Cassie warmly.

"That's a nice car," he says with a smile, waiting for his tip. Dean pulls a few dollars out of his pocket, which Cassie asks to give to him. "Thank you, sweetheart. You have fun, now."

Once they eat, they get on the road again, sharing the root beer float. Cassie has her blast too, and what Dean doesn't know about children and sugar will likely kill him.

Three hours in, she starts to get talkative.

"Uncle Dean, you and daddy knew each other a long time before daddy and momma knew each other, yeah?"

"Yeah. I knew Sam all his life."

"So when did they kiss first that made me?"

Dean blinks. "What?"

"Did you see them kiss the first time that made me?"

Dean tries not to laugh. He knows where this conversation could lead, so he stays clear of the obvious 'kisses don't make babies,' talk. He's not going to get into that with a five year old.

"No, I wasn't there," he says seriously.

"That's too bad. Because I was there! But I don't remember, of course. Hey, uncle Dean? You know what else?"

"What's that, Cassie?"

Her little feet kick gently and incessantly against the seat of the car.

"Last night. You remember last night?"

"Uhuh."

"Well, momma went to close the chicken's coop, and I was supposed to stay and eat my dinner, but I didn't stay and eat my dinner, and so I saw momma get attacked and closed the door in time! You know why I didn't stay and eat my dinner, even though momma told me to?"

"Why's that, Cassie?" Dean picks up their drink and sips it, mostly to keep it away from the hyper child who was now hogging it.

"An angel told me not to!"

Dean stops drinking and accidentally lets some root beer spill from his mouth onto his lap. He wipes it with a napkin.

"An... angel, huh?" he says, glancing over at her occasionally.

"Uhuh. Like my stuffed Castiel doll! But not. Also, I know Castiel's dead."

Dean grips the steering wheel.

"My momma told me one day when I asked why she was sad. She wasn't sad about Castiel that time, but she was sad about Bobby, because that was when she told me that people don't come back when they're dead unless you change their place, but I asked why and she didn't know. But she was crying a lot and when she's crying she doesn't like to talk."

Dean feels like he doesn't want to talk.

"But, oh yeah. I forgot about how I learned that my stuffed Castiel was for real one time, and that's why _my_ name is Cas! But everyone calls me Cassie because it's cutier. And girls are cuties! But when momma was sad about Bobby, I said, why can't dead people come back without changing places with other people, and she said the angels and demons won't let them, because unless they stay here as ghosts they go to either heaven or hell, but when I asked about that she didn't want to talk about it.

But _then_ I asked about when angels or demons die, and she said they just die forever, like Castiel, and you just have to miss them. Because they aren't in heaven or Hell waiting for your turn to die."

Dean swallows hard. "How about you play something quiet now, alright Cassie?" he says. Cassie thinks his voice sounds sad, and she's sorry for making him feel sad. She reaches down and takes up her Road Bag.

"How about I draw you a picture to make you feel better, OK uncle Dean?"

"You go ahead."

The car is quiet for approximately 3.4 minutes.

"All right!" Cassie says, "I'm done!"

"Already?" Dean says, something resembling fear in his voice.

"Uhuh. Look. I drew me and also daddy and also momma and also you!"

"Very nice! But I can't look right now, I'm driving. Why don't you put it in the back and I can look when we stop."

"That's a great idea," Cassie says, "Because being safe is of the biggest importance when you're in the car!"

"That's right," Dean says. He looks at his speedometer and slows down.

"So, Cassie," Dean says.

"Yes, uncle Dean?"

"You said an angel told you to watch Ada when she went outside?"

"Oh, yeah. He's my friend. I only see him sometimes, though. He wasn't there at all when I was in the closet hiding, but I think maybe he wasn't allowed. Because, you know my momma and daddy? They made the closet special to keep monsters out. But maybe the spells on it kept angels out too on accident?"

"Yeah, maybe. So, the angel who's your friend. What does he look like?"

"Oh, he doesn't show me what he looks like. He whistpers in my ear important things."

"Like what?"

"Like to watch momma. And also once I went off in the woods and lost momma because she was being boring picking things and I wanted to see the creek, but then I couldn't find her and the angel told me which way to get back. And also one time I found the cleaning things, but I was littler so I thought those were juice because they're so colorful and the angel then told me not to. But I was littler, so that time I didn't listen and he had to push me away and he slammed the doors closed."

"How much littler were you?"

"Very much. Like maybe I was three?"

"And has he ever come by when your parents were around?"

"No! They can't see him yet!"

Her outburst is so loud and so sudden, it shocks Dean into a few seconds of silence.

"Why's that?"

"Because he said so. Every time I ask him, that's what he says, real loud like that."

"And how often does this angel talk to you?"

"Only sometimes. But he only whistpers things, really quiet. The only time he's loud is when he says 'No! They can't see me yet!'"

She shouts this again, in a foux-deep voice that makes Dean laugh.

"Ok, Cassie, I think it's time to be quiet and listen to some music."

Dean puts on something classic and Cassie shakes and nods her head like crazy. Dean's speechless when she starts singing along with 'Eye of the Tiger.'

He grins. He doesn't want to get her talking again, but he has to know.

"How'd you learn the words to this song, Cassie?"

"My momma loves this song! She also loves the one that goes like, la la la lala la laaaa, you know it?"

Dean turns the volume down for a moment. "Sing it again?"

"It goes kind of like, la la la lala la laaaaa, la la la lala la la. You know it? La la la lala la laaaaaa. Don't you cry no more!"

"Oh," Dean laughs, "Yeah, I know that one."

Cassie smiles and nods to the music a bit more. Then she looks around in her Road Bag again.

The trip goes on relatively well. Cassie starts up more conversations than Dean can shut down, but he quickly realizes that she doesn't have to receive any responses to keep herself going. He just listens to his niece in the background and thinks about his brother and the demon they were probably researching at the moment.

He was paying so little attention to the sugar-induced chattering of his niece that he also didn't notice for quite a while that she'd stopped.

Looking over, he smiles. She's sound asleep and pressed against the window.


	5. Stiffing the Waitress

They have to stop at a motel by the time it gets dark. At lunch, Cassie had claimed she wasn't hungry and didn't finish her burger, but now she says she could eat a whole house. The motel is cheap, and doesn't offer food.

"I'm so glad I got to go on a hotowel trip with you, uncle Dean," she says as they take their things into the room.

"A what?"

"A hotowel trip. A long trip, so long you have to sleep at a hotowel."

"Oh, hotel."

"That's what I said, silly. Uncle Dean, I'm very hungry. I'm pretty sure I'll turn inside out soon."

"If you say so," he says. He takes some of his weapons out of the trunk and into the room, keeping them in a bag and out of sight of the child. He didn't want to scare her, but the demon had been hunting her and he wasn't about to be stupid and get caught unarmed.

"Well, I saw a diner across the street. Do you want to walk and see if they're open?"

"Yes please!" She grabs his hand. He carries the demon knife. When they were leaving, Sam had insisted.

"I'd rather know Cassie is safe than have that kind of advantage," he said when Dean insisted that because they were hunting them, they needed it more.

The door to the diner slides open and greasy fried smells waft out.

They sit in a booth and Cassie colors a kid menu. She takes a pendant out of her shirt and draws the design.

"Now the menu can't get possessed," Dean tells her, "You drew that spot on."

Cassie keeps drawing and Dean orders for them. The waitress sees the anti-possession symbol and does a double take. Her smile is less than bright when she takes their order.

"Ok, two burgers coming up."

Dean looks down at Cassie's drawing and can't look away. Now she's drawing a large face, almost coming off the page. The eyes are a soulless black.

"I think that's enough coloring for now, OK Cassie? You'll scare the waitress."

"Why?" she asks, looking into his eyes, "Doesn't she know about the monsters?"

"No," Dean says, "She doesn't. Only a few people get to know about the monsters."

"But, uncle Dean," Cassie whispers, leaning in to his ear, "She _is_ a monster."

Dean jerks back and pulls out the knife.

"How do you know?"

"Her _eyes._ "

Dean waits for the waitress to come back and watches her carefully.

"Do you serve monte _Christo_?"

He emphasises the name, watching her face. The woman flinches, her eyes flashing black. Dean stands, moving the table, and stabs her in the chest. Sparks fly from her mouth and she falls down dead.

"Come here, Cassie," he shouts, holding out his arms for the girl. She jumps up and clings to him like a spider monkey. Dean hears the order up bell and quickly puts both burgers on one plate, taking them and thanking the chef simultaneously. The bell on the door bings as the chef shouts at them.

"That was close, hey uncle Dean?"

He closes and locks the door of the motel room behind them. He salts the door and windows.

"We should probably leave, but I can't drive any more tonight, so we're going to sleep here and leave as early as possible."

"OK, uncle Dean. Can we eat now?"

He looks at the ceramic plate in his left hand and puts it on the dresser. He finds some complimentary stationery and uses that as a plate, letting Cassie have the dish. They share their serving of fries, even though most of them dropped when Dean ran from the restaurant.

Cassie falls asleep as soon as her burger is done. She's dwarfed by the twin-sized bed, a tiny snoring form. Dean sets his alarm for early and tries to sleep in the dark. He can hear Cassie snoring and he can't settle down. He gets up and checks the salt lines several times before he can drift off.

In the morning when his alarm goes off, Dean looks towards Cassie's bed first thing. She's still asleep. He gets dressed and gently shakes her.

"Come on, Cassie, we gotta go."

She groans and rolls over.

He pats her shoulder. He takes all their bags to the car then takes Cassie's sleeping form and loads her into her seat, balling up his shirt and putting it under her head. She curls around it, burying her hands in it and hiding her face.

She wakes up in a few hours ravenously hungry.

"Good morning, Cassie," Dean says. He pulls into a dusty gas station.

"Oh, good morning uncle Dean. For a minute I forgot about this trip."

"Yeah. That can happen," he says. He parks and they exit the car.

"We'll just have snacks for breakfast. We'll be at the Bunker before lunch."

"Snacks for breakfast! What kind of snacks?"

"Whatever you want," then he remembers her sugar rush, and corrects himself, "Within reason."

When they're in the store, he watches her get mostly savory snacks and a chocolate bar.

"Those are good choices," he says.

"I'm trying to choose healthy."

"Well," He says, "I don't know much about this, but I don't think that can be considered healthy."

"But I only got a little bit of candy!" she says, holding up the chocolate bar.

"But it's a ThreeMuskateers bar. I'm pretty sure that's the sugariest out of all the candy here."

She makes a 'pshh,' sound and loads her snacks onto the counter.

"Two bags of cheetos, a ThreeMuskateers bar, some pretzels, and whatever those are," the cashier says to himself.

"Come on, they're Funyuns, man! They're delicious."

"Hey, I don't make your choices for you." He hands Dean the bag.

Cassie tries some Funyuns in the car.

"Oh, hey," she says. She takes some more. "Oh, hey."

"They're good, right?"

"Mmhmm."

Dean gives her a handful and keeps the rest on the left side of him, away from her grabby fingers. He'll get her more sometime, but right now he's the driver. He needs the snack.

Cassie mostly looks out the window. It's an incredible change from the chatting she did yesterday.

"Cassie," he says, "You feeling OK?"

"Uhuh," she says brightly, "I'm just imagining."

"Imagining what?"

"Flying fast like this car."

Dean smiles. It's a very kid thing to imagine.

They reach the bunker before lunch, but Cassie's definitely not hungry. She still has most of her snacks left.

Cassie wrinkles her nose, looking at the factory that is the cover for the bunker.

"Are we staying in there? How is that safe?"

"You'll see."

He takes Cassie's stuff out of the car and she follows him into the bunker.

"Whoa," she says to him, "It's bigger on the inside."

Dean smiles and lets her think that. He could just tell her that they're underground, but there's enough bad magic in the world that he doesn't want to steal the good magic from her.

"Come on," he says, "I'll show you your dad's room."


	6. Bedtime Stories

"This is where my daddy lived? When you guys fought monsters?" Cassie looks in awe around the ordinary room.

"Yes it is," Dean says. He puts her bags on the bed. "Can you unpack these yourself? I think Sam's dresser is empty-" He opens the drawers. "Oh, man. Sammy's jacket." He pulls a brown canvas jacket out of the drawer.

"Oh, man. That was my daddy's?"

"It sure was. Here, you can have it." Dean hands her the slightly dusty jacket. Immediately she puts it on. She struggles with the sleeves, and Dean helps her get her hands out of the ends of them. She practically swims in it.

"I get to keep it?" she says.

"Well, I don't know. For now, anyway."

"All right!" she takes it off and hangs it on her bed post. "I can unpack, OK uncle Dean?"

"Ok," he says, "I'll leave you to it, then."

In the quiet of the room, Cassie shoves her clothes into her drawers. Then she takes her Road Bag and finds the box. She struggles and puts it under her mattress to look at later. She takes her little knife and puts it in her bedside table. Then, she exits the bedroom and explores the bunker.

Outside her door is a regal hallway. She follows it and finds a library, and a garage, and a room with a big table that looks like a map. "Cassie," she hears Dean call her. After a little bit of wandering, she finds him in the Dining room.

"This place is impressive," she says to him, sitting across from him at the dining table.

"Yeah, it is."

"But, I didn't see many toys..." She hints with a smug grin.

"Didn't you bring some in your Road Bag?"

Cassie laughs. "Not enough!"

"OK, well, what do you do at home?"

"I play with my swords, and with Nerf guns, and also my chalk board, and other stuff like that."

"Well, I can probably make you a new wooden sword," Dean says, "There are plenty of sticks outside. How about tomorrow we walk in the woods and you can pick some good ones?"

"Oh, yes, please!"

She goes back to her room and spends the rest of the evening buried in her coloring books. When Dean calls her for supper, she brings him her pictures.

"Look," she says, holding up the stack. "This puppy I gave stripes. And this one used to be a duck, but I colored too much and now it's a car."

"Very cool." Dean hands her a bowl of macaroni and cheese.

"And this one was a little girl, but then the hair started to look like Daddy's hair, so now it's daddy. See I made him holding a knife because he's hunting monsters in the picture."

"Yeah, but he's wearing a skirt."

"I told you!" she says, squealing with laughter. "It was supposed to be a little girl in the book, but then I made it daddy! That's why the edges of the skirt are black, not blue like his legs!"

Dean grins. "I think I'll keep that one."

Cassie beams and folds it carefully in half. She puts it on the table ceremoniously and peeks over the edge, waiting for him to take it. He does.

"Do you want to see the rest?"

She shows him each one, explaining what they are, and why, and what they're doing.

"I think it's about time for a shower and bed for you," he tells her when she's finished.

"Oh, OK," she says, piling up all her artworks. "I'll go do that then. But, where's the showers?"

"You go get your stuff, then I'll show you."

She leaves and runs back to him in a few minutes with a bundle of clothes and bottles. "Ready to go."

He shows her the shower and turns it on. Ada told him Cassie needed help making it a comfortable temperature.

While Cassie's busy, Dean calls Sam.

"Dean?" Ada answers.

"Hey," he says, "we got here just before lunch today. How are things going with the hunt?"

"We don't have much. There's no reason anyone would be after Cassie, except because of us."

"Damn," he says, "Well, know she's safe here. We ran into some trouble at the motel last night, but we're at the Bunker, and we should be good for food for weeks. No need to go out."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble."

"The waitress at the diner was a Demon. Cassie spotted it, I killed it. Thank Sam for letting me take Ruby's knife."

"A demon," Ada sounds very worried.

"I had it under control, Ada. Anything wants to get to my niece, it's gonna have to kill me first."

"Yeah. Of course. I'm not worried. Can we talk to her?"

He lowers the phone for a second to listen for the sound of running water. "No," he says, "She's still in the shower."

"OK. Have her call us tomorrow, though."

"Will do, Ada. Call me if anything comes up. I have the whole library here, if you need me to look something up."

"Yup. Bye Dean."

Only after Dean puts the phone down does he remember what he wanted to ask them about Cassie's 'angel friend.' He stands when he hears the water stop. Cassie meets him in the hallway. Her damp hair makes spots on her pajamas, and she clutches her Castiel doll.

"Hey there, uncle Dean," she says, "Can you tell me a bedtime story?"

"Sure," he says. She takes his hand and practically drags him to Sam's room. She takes her favorite pillow off the floor and climbs into the bed.

"Ok," she says, "What story are you gonna tell me?"

"What does your mom usually do?"

"Sometimes stories about you, uncle Dean, and Daddy, and Castiel, and a whole lot of them about things like that."

"Oh, so, monsters?"

"But not too scary!" she shouts, "Not before bed!"

"I'll keep it un-scary."

She tucks herself in and looks expectantly at her uncle.

"Uhh," he says, "Let me think."

"Are there any ones my momma didn't know already, so that I never heard them before?" she asks, trying to help.

"Maybe," he says, "Did they ever tell you any stories about Gabriel?"

She looks interested. "Nope! I do not even know who that is."

"Gabriel was an Angel," he says.

"Oh! Cool!"

"But he wasn't an ordinary angel," he says, "He was an Archangel. They're, like, angel royalty, I think. They're more powerful than regular angels."

Cassie settles in to listen to the story.

"Well, even though Gabriel was powerful, he didn't want to help us fight against Lucifer. He was hiding from his brothers. When we first met him, we thought he was a trickster."

"What's a trickster?" she asks.

"It's a monster. It likes to mess with people."

"Did Gabriel mess with you and my daddy?"

"He sure did," says Dean, "He was kind of a di- a, uh, jerk. One time he trapped us inside a whole bunch of TV shows."

"Wait, _what?!_ " Cassie squeals.

"Yeah! We were in a game show, and a police show, and a commercial, and a Doctor show..."

Cassie stands up on the bed. "That's super cool. I didn't know about that!"

"It's time to start settling down, Cassie," Dean says, "Don't stand up again."

"Oh, yeah, sure, uncle Dean." She flops back down and pulls the covers over her legs.

"One day Sam and I stopped at this hotel, but we didn't know the hotel was a trap," he says, "The people who stayed at the hotel were getting taken and eaten!"

Cassie gasps and Dean wonders if he's being too scary. What are the age limits on these kinds of things?

"The hotel was really a meeting place for all kinds of gods!"

"For God?"

"No, not God.., for pagan gods. There's God, then there are pagan gods."

"What's the difference?"

"The pagan gods aren't nearly as powerful," he says, "They're more like monsters, and then God Himself is more like an angel..."

"Oh. I see."

"So the gods were taking the humans for their feast while they talked about the war that was coming."

"A war was coming?"

"Yeah, between Lucifer and Michael."

"Oh! You mean the apocalypse!"

Dean looks at her. "Yeah, the apocalypse. Did your parents _tell_ you about that?"

"Only a little."

"Yeah, that's what the gods were there to talk about. Gabriel, who was hiding from his brothers, he pretended to be the god Loki. That's who all the gods there thought he was. He went there pretending he was there to talk, but he was there to save us, too."

"Oh! But you said he was a jerk?"

"All angels are jerks. Just, some of them have good moments."

She nods. "Like when my angel friend pushed me over when I was very little."

"Sure, like that. So there we were, surrounded by angry gods, and in walks Gabriel. Well, he didn't want us giving him away, so when we tried to say his name, he stole our voices. 'It's always wrong place, worst time with you muttonheads,' he said. And then he sent us to a room with the snap of his fingers so he could talk with the gods and with us."

"At the same time?" she asks with a yawn.

"Yep. He could look like he was in two places at once."

"Cool."

"So he told us why he was there, and told us to leave. We said we wouldn't without taking all the people they had trapped with us. Gabriel told us he couldn't do that. So, we went back in with the gods, and one of them, Kali, had figured out that Gabriel was an angel!"

"Oh no!"

"She took his angel blade from him and stabbed him in the chest!"

Cassie immediately hides her face in her stuffed Castiel.

"What! No, uncle Dean! This is too scary!"

"Wait, wait, it gets better. So, we thought Gabriel was dead, his eyes lit up and everything that happens when an angel dies," he says, "So I tried to buy us time to think of a plan. I called them names and told them that I knew what they should do. I told them that if they let the people go, I'd tell them what I knew. They agreed, so when I was outside letting the people free Gabriel called me over to where he was hiding in the Impala!"

"Whoa! What!"

"He told me the knife Kali had was a fake, and he only pretended to die. He said, too, that we needed to leave, so I went back inside. Unfortunately, the god Mercury called Lucifer."

"No!" she says.

"Yes! Lucifer came in, but Gabriel finally decided to stop hiding from his brothers. He tried to trick Lucifer like he tricked Kali, by pretending that he was in front of Lucifer, when actually he was behind him. But, Lucifer knew Gabe was there, and he stabbed him in the chest for real."

"Oh, no."

"Yeah. And that's how he died."

"No!" she says, "No way! He just tricked you all the same way that same day, no way he for real died."

"Well, that's a good point, but I'm pretty sure he died. Or he went back into hiding, which would make him a real dick."

"What's a-"

"Jerk! I meant jerk. That's a bad word, don't say that one, OK?"

Cassie giggles softly. "I won't tell on you, uncle Dean."

He pats the bed as he stands.

"You have a good sleep, Cassie," he says, "Do you want me to turn the light out?"

"Yes please. I'm not ascared of the dark."

He leaves her to sleep.


	7. Better Than Pop Tarts

In the library, Dean tries to think of where to start, as far as research goes. Sam was always so much better at it than he was. He rereads everything he knows about demons, and gives up at three AM. He doesn't have enough pieces of this puzzle. Maybe Sam will have more for him tomorrow.

In the morning, Dean makes sure to wake up early so Cassie won't have too much unsupervised time in the bunker. At seven he gets up to make breakfast, and finds Cassie already beat him to it.

"Oh, hello uncle Dean," she says. "I found these pop tarts and I wanted to make them more special."

She has a stack of four pop tarts on a plate and a jar of strawberry jelly in one hand.

"How about we make something better?"

"Better than pop tarts?!" she shouts, slamming down the jar of jelly. It hits the edge of the sink wrong and the bottom shatters.

"Oh no!" says Cassie, opening her hand and dropping the mess into the sink. She grabs her wrist with her good hand and holds it up. It starts to bleed.

Dean jumps into action, opening the cupboard with the first-aid kit and turning on the sink. He tests the water until it's lukewarm.

"Here," he says. He takes her wrist and holds it under the water, washing the jelly away. He turns her hand and inspects the damage. A shard of curved glass about a half-inch wide sicks out of the side of her hand. He knows it will bleed more when he pulls it out, so he gets some antiseptic spray ready and a large band-aid.

"Ok," he says to the quiet little girl, "I'm going to take the glass out now, Cassie. You need to hold still, I don't want it to cut you more on the way out."

She nods seriously, eyes dry. Dean watches her face for a few seconds. This girl has a high pain threshold for a five-year-old.

Carefully, dean takes the glass with his fingers and pulls it out of her hand. A thin stream of blood joins the water on her hand. He rinses it again and has her dry it with a paper towel before spraying it with medicine and sticking the bandage on.

"Thank you," says Cassie meekly once he's finished. "Can we have breakfast now?"

Dean pulls frozen biscuits out and makes them egg and sausage sandwiches.

Cassie digs in, getting her hands covered in egg yolk. "This _is_ better than pop tarts. Mostly because it's not too sweet. I like sweet, but not too sweet. That's why I was gonna put jelly on the pop tarts before I broke the jelly."

"How would jelly make it less sweet?"

"Oh, it wouldn't."

"But you said that's why you were going to put it on."

"I did not, uncle Dean. You're crazy."

"You did."

"Did not."

Dean decides too late not to argue with the five-year-old daughter of Sam and Ada.

"You're just like your parents," he tells her.

"Like how?"

Dean laughs and shakes his head. "Well, you're stubborn, for one."

"What's stubborn?"

"You don't change your mind for anyone but you."

"Isn't that everyone, though, uncle Dean?" When he doesn't answer, she continues.

"Because no one can be in your mind and can change your thoughts? No one but you."

"Well, most of the time," he says.

"You're right! Because sometimes it's monsters that change it for you."

He looks again at his endlessly surprising niece. "Yeah," he says. He finishes his first sandwich.

"So," Dean says, "I wanted to ask you about your angel."

"OK." She grins at him, face covered in egg.

"What else can you tell me about him. Or her."

"Him," she says, "He has a guy voice."

"Ok, what can you tell me about him."

"I don't know," she says. She takes a drink of her water.

"Could you tell me what he looks like?"

"No, I already told you."

"Right, yeah. Well, then, what does he sound like?"

"Like a man!"

"But what kind of _words_ does he use?"

"Oh, like, American ones?"

Dean sighs and takes the dishes to the sink. "Can you tell me anything else he's said to you?"

"Well, he knows all your names."

At this Dean looks up from the soapy water. "Does he?"

"Mhmm. He know yours and mine and momma's and daddy's," she says.

"And when was he talking about us?"

"When I can't fall asleep sometimes I ask if he's there and he'll whistper things to help me not think of scary things."

Dean wonders why she didn't think to mention this when he asked what else her angel said to her.

"What kinds of things does he tell you?" Dean turns off the water and puts the plates away. He feels like a regular housewife, but he doesn't like the idea of leaving the dishes in the sink for later as much as he usually does.

"Just things," she says with a small giggle. Her voice is unusually soft. Dean decides not to push her answers and instead picks up the phone.

"I bet your parents would love a call this morning," he says with a smile, sitting back at the table with her.

She grins back, full of enthusiasm. "Oh, I wanna talk to them!"

Dean listens until Sam answers, then smiles and hands the phone to Cassie.

"Daddy?" she says with a smile. Dean can't hear the other side of the conversation, but he can tell Cassie's being interrogated.

"Yes. Yes. Yes. No, of course not! Well, yeah. Uhuh. Uhuh. No. Ok. I love you, daddy."

She sits quietly for a few seconds before going through an almost identical string of answers with Ada. Then, "Hi again, daddy. Oh, OK. Uncle Dean, daddy wants to talk to you."

He takes the phone from her sticky hand and tells her to go wash up.

"Hello?" he says into the receiver. "Hey, Dean," says Sam.

"Any luck?" he asks. He takes a paper towel and quickly wipes the table.

"Nothing. At this point, it would almost be easier to believe he was working alone."

"Well, It's only been, what, a day and a half?" Dean says, "Just keep looking."

"We are, but we don't know where to start," Sam says back. He sounds distracted.

"What do you have so far?" he asks, "You know I have the library."

Sam laughs. "Since when are you so eager to research anything, Dean?"

Dean looks to make sure Cassie hasn't come back. "To be honest, I don't know how much longer I can babysit without going crazy."

Sam laughs again. "Oh yeah? Having a little girl around is too much for you?"

"This is my bachelor pad with you gone, man," he says, "now there's... Crayons! And your room totally smells like strawberries now, somehow."

"Get over it, Dean," Sam laughs, "Just treat her like you treated Ben."

"Sam, Ben was a boy, Cassie's a girl. Way different."

Sam just chuckles. "You're right," he says, "listen, I should get back to the books. We'll let you know if we-"

"Actually, there's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Ada too."

Sam puts the phone on speaker.

"Has Cassie ever told you about an angel? Her angel?"

"Her... Angel?" Ada asks.

"Yeah." Dean runs his hand over his head. "She's been telling me about this 'Angel friend' who keeps her out of trouble."

The parents are silent. They're disappointed that Cassie so quickly told Dean about this and she hadn't told them.

"She never mentioned it," Sam says.

"What does she say about it?" Ada asks.

"Well, when you went out and got attacked, she said he told her to go to the door and watch."

"Even though I told her to keep eating supper, yeah, I noticed that," Ada interrupts, "She's usually incredibly obedient, I was going to let it slide. Then I- Well, you know."

"And she said another time, you were foraging or something and she got lost. She said he led her back."

Cassie's been gone far to long to just have been washing her hands, but Dean isn't a parent and doesn't notice her extended absence.

"I remember that," Ada says, "She was only three or four then, I let her out of my sight for maybe five seconds and she'd toddled away... I ran off looking for her, only to find her in the backyard when I went back to call someone. She told me all about her adventures with an angel, I thought it was just because of the stories I'd been telling her about Castiel."

"Anything else she told you, Dean?" Sam asks, "Maybe this can help us understand why she was a target."

"She said when she was 'littler' the angel stopped her from drinking out of the cleaning chemicals."

"What!" Ada shouts, "That cupboard stays locked!"

"Not that time," Dean says.

"And what did the angel say?"

"Actually, she said he pushed her away that time and slammed the doors."

"Ok," Sam says like he's taking notes. "Thanks, Dean. See if you can get anything else out of her?"

"Yeah," he says, "I'll call you later."

"Bye." says Sam.

"Bye." says Ada. The phone goes quiet.

Dean puts it down and stands. Then, he realizes Cassie still hadn't come back.


	8. Fresh Air

Dean goes into the hallway, where he hears a small squeal from the direction of the bathroom.

"Cassie?!" He shouts, running in that direction.

"Uncle Dean!" she shouts. She runs out into the hallway, soaked from head to toe. "Help me!"

"What happened? What's wrong."

"I didn't mean to! There was a ladybug on the mirror and I stood up on the sink to get it, but then-" She waves her arms to finish her sentence.

Dean goes into the bathroom to see the issue. She must have tried to stand on the faucet, and it broke off. The water, instead of being directed into the sink like it was supposed to, now sprayed in a high ark. Dean hurries under the stream and twists the handles until the water stops. Cassie sighs.

"Oh good," she says, "You fixed it!"

Dean looks around at the wet walls, floor, and ceiling. "Kind of," he says, "You better go change."

He gets all the towels they have and starts soaking up the pool.

He only uses about half of the towels he expected to, and has Cassie take the others back to the closet. He pats her damp head on the way by. "I'll be back soon. Don't break any more plumbing."

Cassie laughs. "I don't know _how_ to break any more plumbing."

"That's reassuring..." Dean mutters.

After cleaning up the mess, Dean looks at the broken sink. It's easy to reattach, but now it leaks from the bottom when they turn it on.

"That's the best we're gonna get," he says to Cassie, who's been his helper.

"Great!" she says, "Can we go outside and get a stick now?"

Dean had forgotten he'd promised that to her.

"Well, I think your parents told me we shouldn't go outside-"

"What!" she says, as though the idea were absurd, "But they aren't here, uncle Dean."

She looks up at him with puppy-dog eyes. "It's just in the woods."

"How about I go by mys-"

"But then I won't get to pick the stick!"

"OK, OK. We'll go out for five minutes, all right?"

"All right!" She runs towards her room. "I'll get some shoes on."

A few minutes later the door closes behind them and they're on the outside of it.

Cassie drags Dean by the hand towards the nearest crop of trees, scanning the ground for sticks.

"So, what are we looking for," asks Dean.

"I want a long one!" she says, "And strong!"

"Ok," he says, "We need to look for a hardwood tree, then."

"But I don't want to cut a tree down! That's too much work."

"No, we don't have to cut it down, there will be branches at the bottom."

"Oh," She says. She stops walking. "Uncle Dean," she says, "You're so smart."

She turns back to smile at him and she screams. Behind Dean stands a dark-eyed demon with a length of metal pipe.

Dean reacts to his niece's scream immediately, spinning around and punching the demon in the gut. It doesn't do much and the demon swings the pipe down, colliding with Dean's skull with a loud twang.

Cassie, still screaming, runs as fast as she can back towards the bunker. Another demon approaches from her left and Cassie turns to avoid her. She only sees another demon in that direction.

She's faster and smaller than the demons, and dodges between their grabbing arms. She runs to the bunker door and bangs on it, willing it to open.

"Please please please!" She yells at it, hoping it was magic and would open for her. All three demons have caught up to her and close in.

"Come on, girlie," says one, "It doesn't even have to hurt."

Cassie presses her back to the door.

"Leave. Me. Alone!" she screams, kicking and scratching as they get close.

The woman closest to her scoops her up and pins her arms to her body. Cassie screeches and kicks her feet at them as they try, in vain, to tie her ankles. Finally, one rolls his eyes and lifts his metal pipe.

With a quick whack, Cassie falls limp.


	9. Ramshackled

**Well, I couldn't leave you hanging. Also, my week was hell and it felt good to write.**

Dean wakes with the sound of his cell phone ringing somewhere distant. He grunts and tries to press a hand to his aching head. His wrists tug, but don't lift. There's a little struggling and shouting before he gets over his shock and remembers what happened.

He looks around. There's a corrugated metal roof above him, and the walls of the structure are a dusty wood. It looks like some kind of workshop. He's chained down to some kind of bed or table. It's hard and unyielding.

"Cassie!" he shouts, rattling his chains again.

"We won't hurt her, if that's what you're so worried about," a woman's voice says from a corner. There's a beep and the phone stops ringing. "At least, we wont hurt her any more than we have to. You know how it is with kids. You have to keep them disciplined."

Dean strains to look at the demon. "Don't _touch_ her," he yells, "Don't you dare touch her!"

"Too late," she says. She comes closer, and Dean can see her smirk. He pulls again at his restraints and is rewarded with a hard blow to the shoulder.

"That won't do anything to help," she says, "and this board won't wear down fast. I could hit you for ages, if you're into that kind of thing."

Dean glares at her and doesn't give her the satisfaction of a response.

Cassie's arms hurt. And her head hurts. And her legs some too. Everything hurts. She bites her tongue and opens her eyes. She's in a chair that's too big for her. Rope keeps her arms from lifting very far and her legs from moving at all. She feels more rope on her chest and it makes it hard to breathe. There's something tied up in her mouth, too, that also makes it hard to breathe.

She's in a little wood room with a concrete floor and a metal roof. The roof has holes in it letting golden fall light stream in and dot the walls. One of the demon men stands by a wooden door.

"You're not going to scream, are you?" he says, his voice deep and rough. She shakes her head. He approaches and reaches around her head to untie the cloth. She tries to wet her lips.

"Can I have some water?" she says quietly.

Without turning his head, the demon yells for someone to get some.

"Do you know why you're here, Castiel Winchester?"

"Cassie," she says, "It's cutier."

"Whatever."

"I don't know why," she says. She's trying her very best not to cry, but she's never been so scared. Does Dean know where she is? Is Dean even alive anymore?

"Because, you're special." He says it mockingly.

Cassie sniffs back her tears. "Why?"

"You were born with the ability to pierce the veil," he says, "To look into-"

"What's the veil?"

"Don't interrupt me!" He snaps, "I was getting to it. You're lucky I'm even wasting my time explaining, I don't have to once we get what we need."

"I'm sorry," she squeaks.

"What I was saying-" There a knock at the door. "You know what? I don't need to explain this to you," he says. He opens the door and gets her water. He storms to her chair and holds the cup over her.

"Open up."

He dumps the cup over her head. She gets very little in her mouth. With a mean laugh, the demon leaves the cup half-full on the floor in front of her.

"I'll be back soon, baby doll." He sneers and slams the door.

She looks at the cup on the ground, then the length of cloth that used to be tied in her mouth. She shakes her head to get some of the water off.

"Uncle Dean!" she calls, "Uncle Dean, where are you!" The door slams back open.

"I don't want to put this back," the man says, scooping up the cloth. "But I will if you continue with that."

Cassie looked at the ground until he left.

The door closed and she looked back up and around at the room. She breathed in as deep as she could and yelled, "Uncle Dean!" She yelled. She kept yelling it over and over, and when the demon opened the door to gag her again, Dean finally heard her.

"Cassie!" he shouted. Her yelling is cut off, and Dean slams his head down on the wood. "Dammit! What do you want with her?"

"Don't you already know?" the demon asks, "Or is your skull even thicker than I thought?"

Dean's head hurts. He has no idea in hell why the demons want the little girl.

"She's a seer, dumbass. She can look past the veil. She just needs some help. And training," she says, "Little Castiel is just young enough that she'll get used to us in time."

He closes his eyes for a few seconds. The demon's right, they'd been stupid. There were all sorts of signs. Her pain tolerance, her deep insights. Hell, her angel friend was probably just some soul who'd taken an interest.

"Why would _you_ want to look past the veil?"

"We know of some very powerful allies right on the other side."

The other two demons come in.

"So there's just three of you?" he says, "That's a little small welcome wagon for whatever allies you think you've got." He just needs to keep them talking and away from Cassie. He knows it was Sam calling, and it will take them a day at least to get to the bunker, and a few hours more to figure out where the demons had taken them. The more he could keep them from hurting Cassie, the better.

"Well, you killed our recruiter," one says, "But we're working on it. Nice of you to be worried."

"I didn't kill him. Cassie did." He can hear their unease at this. Maybe they expected a docile and weak child, but that wasn't what they were going to get.

"With this?" the woman asks. She holds the knife. Dean leans his head away as she trails the tip down the side of his face.

"Yeah," he says, "With that."

"Well, maybe I can kill her back sometime," she says, looking almost hopefully at the other two. Dean has to keep his blood from boiling. He's trying to keep them occupied, not get himself beaten again.

"Maybe she has allies on the other side, too," is all Dean says. They try to aggravate him more, but he bites his tongue.

Then the two men leave and he hears a door open and close.

"Cassie?" he shouts again.

"Shut up," the woman says, "or you'll be counting fingers from a distance."

"Cassie!"

He hears her before he sees her face. She holds it over him, her hair hanging down. "Listen here, you son of a bitch," she snarls, "if I didn't make myself clear enough before, you keep yelling, I'll disassemble you until you look like an anatomy diagram."

He looks into the demon's eyes.

"Cassie!"

"Oh, that's it." She backs up and she hears her pick up something metal and heavy. She lifts a sledgehammer so it's by his face and pulls back.

"Caroline," warns one of the other demons from the door. "Please don't kill him yet."

"Why not?" she spits.

"We may need him to buy Cassie's cooperation."

Realizing the door must be open, Dean calls his niece's name again.

From inside the room, he hears a struggle. "Silas, close the damn door!"

Caroline grudgingly drops the hammer to the floor. "Damn Benjamin," she mutters, "I'll kill him myself when this is over."

"Better not let him hear that," says Dean, "I don't think he likes you."

"He likes me plenty," she grins, "Or he wouldn't keep me around."

Dean laughs once. "Right. Demons keep people around because they like them. Sure. I have the feeling it was more along the lines of 'she's crazy enough to hunt a Winchester, and I couldn't get anyone else."

"You think you're hot stuff, don't you?" she says. She picks up the knife again. "You think that because you've squeezed your way out of every other battle, that you'll win this one? Or the next one?" She laughs. "It's that kind of thinking that will get you killed. It grows and grows and pops like a balloon."

Dean grins. "Killed? Been there, done that, sweet-cheeks."

Without warning, Caroline stabs the knife through Dean's hand. He tries not to yell, but does anyway. The demon grins. Dean hears the door slam open. "Caroline," shouts Benjamin, "Just knock him out of you hate him so much. Then you don't have to talk to him."

She glares down at Dean. "Fine." She lifts the wooden board from before and hits him twice.

Cassie doesn't sleep all night. For one, it's because she's sitting in a chair and it's uncomfortable. For two, it's because Silas never leaves the room, just stands in a dark corner with his arms crossed. Cassie's neck hurts and her eyes feel like something's tied to them and pulling them down, but by morning, she's still awake.

The first light of sunrise peeks in through the holes in the roof and Cassie hears a noise outside. She looks at Silas to see if he heard it. He stares at her, unblinking.

Glancing at the gag and dreading when they'll put it back on her, she fills her lungs and yells again.

Silas angrily grabs the grubby length of cloth and unceremoniously gags her with it. He mutters something vulgar to himself and leaves the room once he's finished.

Cassie listens carefully for the sound she heard before; footsteps in the dried grass outside.

It's her momma and her daddy, she knows it. She doesn't know how they found her, but they did. She jumps in her chair, trying to make noise. The door slams open and Benjamin comes in. Even having been here only a little while, Cassie's learned that he's the one to look out for.

"Dean won't here you," he says, "He's out. Caroline keeps hitting him."

Cassie jumps in her chair again.

"What do you think that's gonna do?" he asks. He grabs her wrists and pins the chair down, getting in her face. "We're gonna start training today. You ready?"

She shook her head. He rolls his eyes and takes the gag off again.

"Ok, girlie," he says, "tell me about the veil."


	10. A Brief Divergence

When Ada found out she was pregnant with Cassie, they were on the road. She had walked across the street to a pharmacy for a pregnancy test while Sam was sleeping.

She knew he didn't want to bring children into that life. Neither did she. But, while she tried to pretend she was upset, she was excited.

"Sam," she whispered into the room. He rolled over. "Sammy," she said. He sat up.

"Ada?" he mumbled.

"Get up, I have something to tell you." She had left the three positive tests in the bathroom sink so he wouldn't see her holding them.

"What is it, everything OK?" He stood and approached her.

"Kind of," she grinned.

Before she could say a word, a fluttering noise made the couple aware that Castiel was with them

Ada was disappointed. They couldn't very well ask him to leave. She would have to tell Sam later.

"Have you told him?" Cas asked. Ada stared at him.

Of course the angel would know. Why not? She sighed.

"No. Can we have a minute?"

Cas turned around and looked out the window.

"Ok, so," she said to Sam, "I'm not sure how to say this."

Sam looked slightly worried.

"I'm pregnant."

He continued looking at her like he was waiting for her to tell him.

"Say that again?"

"I'm pregnant, Sam." She went into the bathroom and took out the positive tests. She handed them to him.

He looked them over for a few seconds. "And you're sure this means you're pregnant?" he says, "The box said, this little symbol means-"

She nodded. She didn't know what to expect, as far as his reaction went.

"Sam?" she said. He had buried his face in her shoulder.

He looked up with the brightest grin on his face and kissed her. There were a few tears in his eyes. Ada felt her eyes fill with tears, too. Mostly because she couldn't see someone crying without crying herself, but she was also crying for the baby.

Their baby.

Castiel cleared his throat. The two turned to him.

"There's something of great importance that I need to tell you," he said.

"Dean should be here," said Sam. Cas nodded. He left and returned almost instantly. Dean stood, looking shocked, a beer halfway to his lips.

He saw their teary eyes and immediately thought the worst.

"What's wrong? What happened?" He put the beer down on a dresser.

"I'm pregnant." Ada laughed once, still crying.

Dean smiled and congratulated them, but he knew that this was mixed news.

"Cas, what did you want to tell us?" Sam asked. All three looked at the angel.

"Your child... there's an interest in it in heaven."

"Why?" asked Ada. She didn't like the sound of that. Why couldn't anything they were involved in just be human?

"I'm not sure. All I know is that the baby is to be named... after me."

It's like they all stopped breathing. Then Ada started to laugh.

"What is this, the bible?" she said, "Am I giving birth to Jesus?" Sam and Dean laughed too.

"Obviously not," Cas said, confused, "That isn't my name."

Ada laughed harder.

"Castiel," she said, "the baby's name will be Castiel."

Cas nodded.

"So it's a boy, then?" Sam asked.

"It is too early to tell," he said.

"And you don't have any idea why?" Ada said.

Castiel shook his head.

"Well, OK, little Castiel," Ada said quietly, putting her hands on her belly, "Welcome to the Winchesters."


	11. Pierce the Veil

In the pale afternoon light coming into the shed from somewhere, Dean wakes up without being hit again. He cranes his neck to see if Caroline's around. Instead he's greeted by Ada's face, smeared with blood.

"Ada," he groans, "What happened?"

"We killed two of them," she whispers, "the third's in there with Cassie. We're waiting for him to leave, so there's no chance of him hurting her."

He feels her messing with the chains at his hands and feet.

"Damn," she mutters, "Need some bolt-cutters."

"We're in a workshop," Sam says from the other side of the room. Ada rolls her eyes and starts to search.

"So, Dean," says Sam, "What happened."

"This isn't the time for that," says Ada, "you can fight it out later. Let's get Cassie, first. Here we go." There's a clatter and Ada comes back into Dean's field of vision. He feels his bounds loosen one at a time and Ada helps him stand. He has trouble keeping his balance.

"You OK, there, Dean?" Ada asks.

"She kept me knocked out," he mutters, tenderly feeling the layers of fresh bruises his skull received.

Sam shushes them and they join him at the door.

"Concentrate!" Benjamin shouts from inside. They hear Cassie say something.

"I don't care if you're tired," the demon snarls. Dean sees Sam ball his fists. Ada takes one and holds his hand.

"We'll kill him," she whispers soothingly.

Suddenly, there's a cold breeze from under the door and Cassie screams.

The three outside the door throw all thoughts of surprising the demon out the window. Dean breaks down the door and they burst in. Benjamin lies, dead, on the floor, blood pooling around him. Behind Cassie swirls something dark.

Tears run down the girl's cheeks. "I broke it," she sobs, "They're mad."

Sam and Dean grab the chair and Ada's right behind them as they run from the room. They pause for only a few seconds in the workshop so Ada can cut Cassie's ropes. She stumbles, but is soon running faster than the rest of them. She slams open the outside door and runs into the sunlight. Behind them, the sound of voices begins.

"Cassie! Cassie." Sam catches up to her. "What happened?"

"He was trying to make me talk to them," she says, hysterical, "But I got mad and I broke it, now they can get out and it's all my fault."

Something clatters to the ground inside the workshop. Sam scoops up Cassie and they sprint into the woods.

"The car's by the highway," Ada says, "It's a mile from here, maybe more."

Behind them, figures appear, incredibly fast.

"Sam," Dean says, "We have to get that hole shut."

"No," Sam says, "We don't. We're going to the bunker where we can figure out what to do."

"Daddy, put me down!" Cassie yells, "I can run just fine!"

He puts her on her feet and she speeds ahead. Sam looks behind and starts to run faster too. The figures are gaining on them.

Ada looks backwards and trips, sprawling in the dirt.

"Ada!" Sam shouts. He stops to help her up and the figures overcome them. Without turning back Dean runs.

"Cassie!" he yells, "Don't stop running!" She gets faster and farther ahead. Dean feels an icy hand on his shoulder and he's pulled back into the horde.

Sobbing as she runs, Cassie saw the figures take Dean. She can feel her legs starting to get tired, so she runs faster and hopes she'll get far enough away that they won't see her.

She feels herself slowing down, and there's nothing she can do to stop it. The forest turns into a farmer's field like the ones she has at home, and she sees a little white farmhouse at the far side.

If she can get to the house, she thinks she'll be safe.

The field is a lot longer than she had thought. Behind her, the mass of figures bursts through the trees.

Terrified, the little girl falls to her knees and does the only thing she can think to do;

She prays.

Instantly, she feels a warmth in her pocket and pulls out the small metal box she forgot she stole from her parent's closet. The symbols are glowing and it's too hot to touch. She pries at the burning opening and the box bursts open with blinding light.

Like a phoenix, the light in the box swoops over the figures and they dissolve. It disappears into the woods and the figures' smoke rises up in a trail after it.

There's a final burst of light from the direction of the workshop and Cassie feels a peace settle over her hurting.

It's been set right.

"Castiel?"

"Cassie," she corrects, before turning around to see who spoke.

It's a man in a trench coat, standing a few feet from her.

She looks him over. Shock makes her shake.

"Are you an angel?" she asks, wrapping her arms around herself and standing up.

"I am," he says.

She starts to cry, and the man approaches. He scoops Cassie into his arms.

"You're all right," he tells her.

"You're Castiel," she hiccups, "Aren't you."

He smiles and nods, walking back towards the forest.. Cassie watches his face as he carries her. She hasn't seen this face before, but she knows this angel.

"You're my friend," she says softly, wrapping one of her arms around his back.

He doesn't answer her. He walks into the woods towards their fallen family. They find Dean first, cold and lifeless. Cassie hides her face in Castiel's coat and doesn't look until she hears Dean's voice.

"Castiel," he says, sounding weary. Cassie peeks and sees Dean, alive and standing, looking up at the angel's face with tears in his eyes. She looks up at the angel's face, too, and sees a similar expression.

"Uncle Dean," she says quietly, "This is my friend."

To Castiel's surprise, Dean hugs them both.

"Thanks for looking out for her," he says in Cas' ear.

"We must go," Castiel says, "Sam and Ada."

"Mom and Daddy?" Cassie whispers.

"Cover your eyes, Cassie," Cas says. She doesn't listen, and soon sees her parents.

Their bodies were in worse shape than Dean's had been. Cassie looks at their bloodshot eyes and crooked limbs and starts to cry.

Even when Castiel gently touches each of their foreheads and they stand, Cassie still sobs for what she'd seen. She knows that someday they will die and she will be alone. She doesn't want to think about it. It's too much of a pain for her to bear. She reaches her arms towards her mother like she did when she was much younger and wanted to be held.

Tired and worn out, the five drive home in silence. Cassie sits between Cas and her mother in the back of Sam's car. The adults can't stop looking at the angel. It's been years since he'd died, and they thought- no, they knew he was gone for good. They'd done their research. They'd even attempted things they knew wouldn't work.

Their friend was dead.

And now he was in their car.

They send Cassie to her room to play when they get back to the bunker.

"Cas," Sam says once the little girl has left, "Don't get me wrong, it's great to see you, but how in hell?"

"I'm not sure. I don't really even remember dying," he says, "The part of me that was in that box-"

"The box!" Sam and Ada say simultaneously.

"Cassie must have taken it," says Ada, "we didn't check."

"Didn't I tell you to give it to her?" Cas asked.

"We planned to," Sam said, "When she was older. She's only five years old."

Cassie, unseen by the adults, takes the empty box out of her pocket. She's listening to what they're saying. She mostly doesn't want to be alone in her daddy's room when all she can think of are her parent's dead eyes and the evil she'd felt only hours before.

"She opened it," Cas says, "I don't know what drove her to do it, but she must have. I put a piece of my grace in that box so that when the time came, my seer could release me."

" _Your_ seer?" Ada says, only slightly indignant.

"I told you when you first were pregnant that Cassie was of heaven's interest. I figured out not long before I was killed that it's because she's a seer. And I am the angel assigned to her."

"That's why..." Sam says quietly.

"Why what, Sam?" says Dean.

"Well, you remember. Cas said we had to name Cassie after him. It didn't make sense to any of us then."

Cas nods.

"You died before you explained. I thought it was... resolved, I guess," Ada says.

"I didn't know," he says, "And then I died. Which I don't remember, as I was explaining."

"Right, go on," says Sam.

"Because the piece of me in the box was separated before I died, that is not a memory I have easy access to."

Cassie closes the box with a snap and the adults' heads swivel towards the noise.

"Cassie?" says Sam softly. She stands and steps into the room.

"I-" she says, tired and sad inside, "I just didn't want to be alone."

Sam, Ada, Cas, and Dean _all_ hold their arms out for her. Without thinking, she climbs into Castiel's lap.

Sam and Ada are hurt. Cas is unsurprised.

The girl sits on his lap while he explains some of the spells involved with splitting off a piece of his grace and keeping it in the box. She pulls the box out of her pocket and puts it on the table.

"Oh," says Ada, "You still have it." She picks it up and inspects the marks.

"What made you keep it, Cassie?" Sam asks, "And open it?"

"It was important."

And that's all she'll say on the matter.

Ada scoops Cassie off Cas' lap when her head starts to bob and her eyelids close on their own.


	12. Seer Care 101

Ada tucks Cassie into Sam's bed and looks around the old room. She hears Sam come in behind her.

"If I'm not mistaken," Ada smirks, turning and taking her husband's hand, "This is probably where Cassie started."

Sam looks at her. "She was born in Tennessee..."

Ada elbows him. "You know what I meant," she laughs. Cassie stirs.

"Goodnight, momma. Goodnight, daddy," she whispers into the dark.

"Goodnight, Cassie," they say to her, closing the door behind them as they leave.

After a few beers and more talk, the bunker falls silent and the humans go to bed.

Castiel, though, ends up in Cassie's room.

He doesn't remember much of what he experienced on the other side of the veil, but he does remember Cassie.

He remembers her, as an infant, opening a cupboard of toxic fluids. He remembers calling out to her to back away, yelling until it seemed she'd heard. He remembers her reaching for them anyway, and his fear for her life being strong enough to push her back and slam the doors.

He remembers other instances of Cassie's danger. He remembers her getting lost several times, and climbing things she shouldn't, touching things that weren't safe. Between these times there was a blankness. A scene would fade into view of Cassie, and Castiel would try to talk to her. When she was in danger, it wasn't the easiest to talk to her. The easiest was when she was trying to sleep.

Halfway between sleeping and waking, the little seer could look right into the veil, and what she saw scared her. Castiel was always there, telling her stories, keeping her eyes averted from the horrors that she likely saw.

When she asked when she could see him, what could he say? He knew telling her who he was would guarantee problems. If Cassie told her parents about the things she saw, they would misunderstand.. They would try to put a stop to it. They didn't know she was to be a seer. They didn't know how fragile her abilities were at this stage.

So, Castiel protected heaven's asset, the girl who he very quickly considered a friend.

Cassie sits up in her bed.

"Angel friend?" she whispers into the dark.

"I'm right here," he says, "is it bothering you?"

She nods and he sits beside her on the bed.

She lays back down, eyes flitting around the room to where Cas is sure she sees the shadows move.

"Close your eyes," he says, "I'll tell you a story."

* * *

 **The End!** Would you guys be interested in a story about Cassie as a preteen/teen? Or a teen/grownup? Please let me know in the reviews!


End file.
